Do we have the tools to manage resistance in the future?

Pesticide resistance is a major factor affecting world food and fibre production, but that has been contained so far by the availability of diverse modes of action. Overcoming resistance by switching to a new mode of action is a concept easily grasped by growers but threatened by losses through resistance and new registration requirements. Opportunities for innovation and development of a diversity of novel modes of action exist through harnessing recent advances, fundamental to all eukaryotes and largely funded for medical rather than agricultural objectives, in understanding cell biology and development. The cystoskeleton, cell wall synthesis, signal transduction and RNAi are discussed as examples where new targets are now exposed. However, new modes of action will be delivered not only by sprayer or seed treatment but also through transgenic crops, although these still need to be transferred from experiment to practice. Improvements in modelling protein structures and target-site changes, supplemented by rapid diagnostics to detect resistance early, will improve resistance risk management and integrate chemical, biopesticide, transgenic and conventional breeding around the concept of diversity in modes of action. However, before agronomy can translate this into practical antiresistance strategies, there is a need to direct more resources to the biochemistry and cell biology of pests, diseases and weeds to translate these new discoveries into key tools needed to manage resistance in the future. Copyright (C) 2012 Society of Chemical Industry